Posts Tagged ‘Suzanne Vega’

“Laura woke up at quarter to seven, as she always did. Her husband lay next to her and didn’t move when the alarm went off. He was a heavy sleeper. She tried to remember what she had been dreaming of, but couldn’t think of it.

All she could think of was a feeling of seeing her old boyfriend’s face and seeing her hands on his thick black hair. She shrugged it off in her mind. It didn’t mean anything. She was married now and didn’t fool around. Time was passing, and she roused herself – if she didn’t get up now, Tomas was going to be late for school again.”

– the beginning of Suzanne Vegas’ short story “Ironbound” from “Songs Without Rhyme: Prose By Celebrated Songwriters,” 2001

Suzanne Vega steps into the spotlight for an intimate concert at Club Helsinki in Hudson at 9pm on Saturday (June 22). Tickets are $55 in advance; $60 at the door.

Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega, Tony Award-winning composer Duncan Sheik and director Kay Matschullat are in residence at EMPAC at RPI in Troy this month exploring the challenges of a new a music-theater work, “Carson McCullers Sings About Love,” which combines songs with conversation.

Vega will portray McCullers, the southern author who penned such books as “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” “Reflections in a Golden Eye,” “The Member of the Wedding” and “The Ballad of the Sad Cafe.”

Set designer Louisa Thompson and lighting designer Lenore Doxsee will also work with the director to assist in creating a piece that floats in time and moves between forms.

There will be an informal, work-in-progress showing at EMPAC at 7pm on Tuesday, January 18, which will include songs and text from the show. There will also be an opportunity for discussions with the artists. Admission is free.

This was a double bill, no doubt about it. No one was an “opener” for the other. Singer-songwriters Marc Cohn and Suzanne Vega have both had hits in the past, and they both have had ongoing music careers that have stretched from the 1980s til today.

What everyone in attendance at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall witnessed or felt that night was that this was a unique magical and emotional event. There were no full bands wailing behind the featured artists; in each case, there was only the singer-performer and one other multi-instrumentalist adding musical flavor to the mix.

We have two pairs of tickets to see Marc Cohn & Suzanne Vega at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall next Wednesday, February 3, and we’re going to give them away to two lucky Nippertown readers. To enter to win a pair of tickets to this amazing evening of music in the acoustic wonderfulness of the Music Hall, all you have to do is send us an email at CohnAndVega@nippertown.com.

Marc Cohn, best known for his soulful Grammy-winning hit “Walking in Memphis”, has progressed into new material that contains complex, private emotions set to music of remarkable depth and complexity. Grammy nominated Suzanne Vega, whose hits include “Luka,” “Tom’s Diner” and “Left of Center,” conveys deep emotion in songs that focus on ordinary people and real world subjects.

The Small Print: one entry per person, please. Winners will be chosen at random next week. Good luck!